Kevin Harvick won Goody's Fast Relief 500 in Martinsville Speedwa scoring his second consecutive race after winning also Auto Club 500. The victory was Harvick's second of the season and his first at Martinsville. Harvick has 16 victories in the Cup Series.
This time Harvick's victim was Jimmie Johnson's teammate- Dale Earnhardt Jr. who came so close to terminate his winless 98-races streak. Still, Harvick came again out of nowhere and made the winning pass with just 4 rounds before the finish of the race. Harvick, who ended Denny Hamlin's streak of 3 consecutive victories at Martinsville who appears to be out of pace, commented about the race:
"I hate to be the bad guy here, but we're in it to win it. I could see people going crazy in Turn 2 when he took the lead from Kyle, and I was catching him, and I'm like, 'Man, I'm going to be the bad guy here. But I've got to do what I've got to do. To race with Dale Jr. and win the race at Martinsville, I think it's pretty cool. ... I know the fans want to see him win -- I want to see him win. It would be great for the sport, and I think today went a long way to showing how competitive they can be, racing for wins. That's what we need. We all need him to win, but I'm not going to back down.""
Kyle Busch, was also another Harvick's victim after losing the lead in the closing laps for the second consecutive race. Juan Montoya ran a strong 4rth, followed by Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and pole-sitter Jamie McMurray. David Ragan and Clint Bowyer were eighth and ninth, respectively, while Mark Martin finished 10th in his 800th race in the Cup Series.
Before Harvick spoiled Earnhardt's party, the driver of the No. 88 appeared likely to take advantage of astute pit strategy on the part of crew chief Steve Letarte. A two-tire call on Lap 205 got Earnhardt out of the pits in second place. Under a caution on Lap 373, Letarte brought Earnhardt to pit road for four tires and fuel without losing a position, even though the eight cars ahead of him stayed out.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. commented:
"We had the opportunity there to win a race, and I'm disappointed that I didn't get the job done. It'll probably bother me more and more as the night goes on -- I'll probably think about it a million times, what I could have done differently -- but, you know, if I know what's best for me, I should probably have a good attitude about what happened today.
I'll probably go into the next race and use it as momentum and confidence, as any other good driver would do, instead of worrying about how close we came. I should be thankful and grateful for the opportunity I had today and the opportunity I got to work with the team I'm with, and to even be here competing.
Steve's a good crew chief, and he's going to give me more opportunities like this, I feel."
The race was red-flagged for almost 25 minutes to repair the Turn 3 wall after Martin Truex Jr. rammed the SAFER barrier. The throttle on Truex's No. 56 Toyota stuck wide open, and Truex T-boned fellow Toyota driver Kasey Kahne before slamming the wall. Paul Menard's streak of five consecutive career-best finishes ended when he failed to better his previous best at Martinsville: 13th. Contact from Brad Keselowski's Dodge spun Menard's Chevy in Turn 1 on Lap 241, and Menard never recovered. Ultimately, he retired to the garage after 261 laps, in 38th place.
